The Blaisdell Blog

Hell hath no music like a woman playing second fiddle.   No one learned this lesson at a higher price than the mythological Greek hero, Jason.   Jason is usually known by both his name and his band of merry men: Jason and the Argonauts.   They were explorers, adventurers and principles in more than one exciting myth.   Jason cashed in on his fame by marrying a beauty and then casting her aside for a better offer.   Jason was married to Medea, follower of the goddess Hecate (the witch) with as fine an Hellenic pedigree as you get.   She was both the daughter of a king and granddaughter of Helios, Greek god of the sun.   I am sure that mythology would paint such a woman as beautiful.   Surely Jason thought so.   Unfortunately, Jason was also a power grubber.   When Jason is offered the daughter of Creon, King of Corinth, as a bride, he feels that he simply can’t pass up a rich, youthful princess with an outrageously rich father. ...

Many of you may saw Governor Greg Abbott of Texas giving a stirring message of unity and a prayerful message of hope to the citizens of Dallas the day after the murder of five Dallas policemen.   Some of you may have been surprised to see Gov. Abbott in a wheelchair.   Now, mind you, if Abbott was a left-leaning Democrat the news media couldn’t get enough of that story. Every mention of the man (and there would be plenty of them) would start with the term “Wheelchair bound Gov. Abbott…”   But, of course, Abbott is a Republican and a devout Christian, and a conservative in a solidly red state so the media soft peddles it.          Gov. Abbott was paralyzed in an accident in 1984.   A tree fell on him when he was jogging.   However, he still has fully-functioning nerve receptors in his legs and feels pain just as intensely as any of us.   That is important for the rest of this story.       ...

I found a dentist that cured me from a life-long phobia about dentistry.   He did so by taking my fear seriously.   He didn’t tell me I was foolish or inform me of the benefits of dentistry, things I already knew.   He started by accepting my fear as real.   When I recently read an article from Pew Research about the latest research on the American electorate I thought about fear, how it incapacitates, and how it must be faced.   Let me set the stage with a few facts about voters.                 We know that the electorate of both parties are more dissatisfied with their Presidential choices than they have been in over twenty years.   That is one reason even the savviest political experts in this cycle are confounded with their predictions, projections and pronouncements.   They are dealing with people who are trapped in frustration, fear and anger. We all know that a trapped an...